Aspirational Values
These aspirational values reflect ways in which HSH can build an infrastructure that is rooted in equity:
Living into the values and practices needed to advance equity within HSH will require an approach to accountability that addresses and transforms individual, interpersonal and institutional bias. It is important to note here that taking action on addressing racist structures, policies and behaviors cannot wait for (predominantly white) individuals to do their individual work to understand internalized privilege and bias.(2) We are including recommendations that address both individual and institutional accountability as the foundation to advancing equity within HSH and in the broader San Francisco homeless response system.
- Creating a regularly updated resource catalogue to share broadly with staff of relevant books, articles, podcasts, videos and other resources on topics related to anti-racism;
- Considering book clubs for interested staff to read books relevant to anti-racism and undoing white supremacy;
- Developing individual professional development goals that are supported by investments in learning tools and resources and available paid time; and
- Developing tools for individuals and teams to utilize as reflection and evaluation exercises.
- Establishing a Racial Equity Action Team to organize and operationalize equity tasks across the organization – inclusive of, but not solely, the actions named in the HSH ORE Action Plan, ensuring representatives on the Racial Equity Action Team are resourced with the adequate time within their staff position, roles, and responsibilities;
- Establishing a Racial Equity Accountability Council comprised of both role-specific positions (e.g. Chief Equity Officer; HR Manager) and experiential positions (staff with interest and whose racial, ethnic and cultural identities represent the community HSH serves, including people with lived expertise) to provide oversight and hold the organization accountable for advancing equity goals and actions;
- Refining the role of the DEI Committee to align with complementary goals and membership strengths, creating defined goals and roles for this committee that are complementary to the accountability structure;
- These could include focusing on providing advisory support and representation to the Racial Equity Accountability Council, cultural programming within the department, peer support, etc.;
- Ensuring all leadership positions that hold positional power in advancing equity have equity goals and metrics built into job descriptions, performance goals, and metrics, including:
- Executive Staff
- Directors
- HR Management; and
- Creating transparent and direct lines of decision-making from the Racial Equity Action Team & Council that connect to HSH Director, Chief Equity Officer and HR Manager.
- Establishing the Racial Equity Accountability Council as the primary home for holding the theory of change for advancing equity, related organizational goals, resources allocation, and continuous quality improvement;
- Providing a consistent cadence of executive leadership communication, reflecting on and publicly reporting-out progress, new challenges, new learning, and team growth that includes a feedback loop;
- Monitoring progress, impact, and new opportunities across organizational departments and leadership levels;
- Providing transparent access to view progress via a tracking mechanism to document progress and challenges to implementation of racial equity goals; and
- Ensuring continuous improvement processes include regular qualitative and quantitative assessments to track both experiential & structural progress and include opportunities for staff input who may not be as involved or as vocal.
Notes
(1) Mack, Leslie. 2019. “ We need to make proactive accountability regular praxis in organizing and beyond.” Black Youth Project. https://web.archive.org/web/20200530045756/http://blackyouthproject.com/we-need-to-make-proactive-accountability-regular-praxis-in-organizing-and-beyond/
(2) Cuyahoga Arts and Culture. “The Four Levels of Racism”. Accessed March 31, 2021. https://www.cacgrants.org/assets/ce/Documents/2019/FourLevelsOfRacism.pdf